​As I am dealing with the constant battle of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome), I am trying to keep myself content by better utilizing equipment that I do have. I really enjoy using old analog lenses with the aperture settings on the barrel. Since my preference is to not dig through menus and fumble with buttons on the camera, having easy access to the aperture blade works well. I can make adjustments on the fly when I need to determine how much light to capture.

During one of the last summer weekends of this year, I used a vintage Minolta 28mm (which is becoming one of my favorites) on a FujiFilm X-T10 to shoot around the downtown area of Ann Arbor at sunset. I decided to assign myself the task of capturing deep shadows and negative space. Most of the images were captured between f/2.8 - f/5.6 with a low ISO setting of 250. I used fast shutter speeds (at least 1/2200 seconds) to freeze the action and highlight the dark areas.

Hopefully personal projects such as these will keep my attention span on the actual art of photography and distract my urge to shop for camera stuff I don’t really need...